Things I love about ministry

Ok, so last week I published the negative list. Today, I'm trying to be a little more positive, so here are some the things I really love about my job...

• Helping people to get to know Jesus
• Watching kids' eyes light up as they finally understand something we've been telling them for years
• Finding new ways to bring the bible to life for kids
• Being an idiot in public (You can do this very well with small children. They actually enjoy it when you're over the top)
• Being thrown back on the bible when you are asked the tricky questions
• Legitimately being able to play with textas, glue and coloured cardboard
• Being able to listen to young people who are wrestling with the big issues in their own lives
• Watching young people take on faith for themselves
  
• Reaching kids who have had no contact with God or church whatsoever
• Seeing the evidence of God working in and through people.
• Having prayers answered in a visible and powerful way (the simple and mundane answers are also wonderful to see!).
  

Along with the highs come the lows. Every year it's hard to say goodbye to our year 12s who go away from town to uni. It's painful watching kids make the same mistakes you've seen others make. It hurts me to see them walking blindly into screwed-up situations where they end up making a grand mess of their lives (and you can't do anything other than pray for them). It's excruciating when you want to say something horrible to parents who walk away from their kids in the name of "finding themselves". But it's all worth it when just one child realises that Jesus loves them and died for them, too.